Heaven – A Fairy Tale?

I flew down to Dallas today, and as I write this, I am sitting in the Renaissance Hotel getting ready to shut down for the night. I was thinking about all the things that have happened the last week; our daughter Jill finally getting to go home on Saturday, after three days of delays trying to fly to Oklahoma City through Dallas, the deaths of two people who work for a company I have been dealing with in Greenwood, and then today, Janet apparently broke her finger while walking Lexie, our dog, this afternoon. I wish that I was home assisting her, but the doctors did not think she should visit a hand specialist until Wednesday, and I could not find a way to fly back until tomorrow afternoon. So there you have it – the ups and downs of life in the daily grind of my life. And I am probably not much different than you are – you just never know what is around the next corner.

So, as I was contemplating what to write about, I was reading the Bible and happened to land on a verse that resonated with me this evening. But before I tell you which verse that was, I should note that I offered up a quick prayer for God’s wisdom to enlighten me as to what I should write about tonight. And just as quickly as I asked, I got an answer. For I was listening to the news in the background and there was a short piece on Dr. Stephen Hawking, the brilliant scientist, a theoretical physicist, who is confined to a wheel chair and is considered a thought leader in advanced theories about the universe as well as weighing in on many other very lofty topics. The news tonight centered on his belief that there is no heaven – in fact, he went on to say that heaven is a fairy tale.

Now I don’t know about your thoughts on this, but the bloom just fell off the rose in my book. If he is that smart, he should know that God, and heaven, exist. But the issue here is that he just can’t trust at all – and he can’t see heaven from here, so it must not be real. And I suppose that each of us at some time or another must process the question as to whether we believe that something exists that we can’t see.

Like the wind; we can’t see it, but we can see the impact it has on trees swaying, or the damage caused by high winds. Ships get blown off course, and planes encounter turbulence. So we believe that wind is real, because we see the evidence. And the impact of God is all around us as well, but since we can’t see God, it is difficult for some of us to admit the reality of God. And it’s not as easy to attribute things to God as it is to believe in the wind. Sometimes, until the Holy Spirit works on your heart, there is nothing I can do to convince an unwilling person that God lives.

Certainly after all the grief counseling I have done in the last week, I continue to find that most people derive comfort from believing that there is a loving God who cares for them. That is, unless you are just too smart, and have to be able to prove everything before you can believe. And I have run across that more than a few times in my life as well.

So, in closing, tonight’s verse is Ps 91:1-2 “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

In other words, try to “dwell” with God. That is an intimate word – it means to live in community with. Not to visit – but to live there. So, the psalmist encourages us to live with God, and let Him protect you from harm. And we are further called on to trust God. So, my encouragement tonight is that there is loving God who wants you to live with him – here, and also for eternity in heaven – regardless of what Stephen Hawking says. And my prayer is that you will dwell with God and allow his divine peace to wash over you. From time to time, we will all experience inconveniences, but God can handle all that. Perhaps some day, even Dr. Hawking will experience God’s grace in some miraculous way that will allow him to see the evidences of God all around us and the rest of the universe – which God Himself created. Have a great day in the Lord; enjoying His creation.